Leaders from South Korea, China and Japan yesterday reaffirmed their goal of a denuclearized Korean Peninsula, during a rare summit at which they also agreed to deepen trade ties.
The summit brought together South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, Chinese Premier Li Qiang (李強) and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Seoul for the countries’ first trilateral talks in nearly five years, partly due to the COVID-19, pandemic but also to once-sour ties.
While North Korea was not officially on the agenda, hours before the leaders met Pyongyang announced that it would soon put another spy satellite into orbit — a move that contravenes rafts of UN sanctions barring it from tests using ballistic technology.
Photo: EPA-EFE
At a joint press conference, Yoon and Kishida urged North Korea to call off the launch, with the South Korean leader saying it would “undermine regional and global peace and stability.”
Yoon also called for a “decisive” international response if Kim went ahead with his fourth such launch — aided by what Seoul claims is Russian technical assistance in exchange for Kim sending Moscow arms for use in Ukraine.
However, China, North Korea’s most important ally and economic benefactor, remained notably silent on the issue, with Li not mentioning it during the briefing.
In a joint statement issued after the talks, the countries reaffirmed their commitment to the “denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” adding that peace “serves our common interest and is our common responsibility.”
Pyongyang hit back immediately, saying in a statement by a North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson that “to discuss the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula today constitutes a grave political provocation.”
The three countries yesterday also announced that they would arrange “discussions for speeding up negotiations for a Trilateral FTA [free-trade agreement],” and boost three-way cooperation, including holding summits on a regular basis.
Li also said they had agreed on not turning “economic and trade issues into political games or security matters, and rejecting protectionism as well as decoupling or the severing of supply chains,” Xinhua news agency reported.
After their talks, Yoon, Li and Kishida joined a business summit aimed at boosting trade between the countries, which was also attended by top industry leaders.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat